Disclaimer (forgot that one before): I don't own anything here except the plot and Samantha Lewis as a character. Everything else is borrowed from J.K. Rowling's imagination and I try everything I can to return all the characters in one piece after I let them go through my story. No promises made, though. No money is made through any of this. (or if it is, it never reaches me.)

Chapter Six

Ron came into the Gryffindor Common Room at half past eight the next morning just as Harry and Hermione returned from breakfast. He looked at them as if he was ready to kill.

"Hey Ron! What's up? Doing better?"

"Don't pretend to be so innocent Harry!"

"What do you mean?" Harry avoided looking into Ron's eyes and Hermione appeared to be close to a laughing fit.

"I mean that stupid get-well-soon card Madam Pomfrey handed out to me at seven o'clock this morning. The last one and a half hour I spent talking goblin dialects! Thank you so much!"

Both Harry and Hermione could not stand it anymore and broke into laughter.

"Oh Ron", Hermione finally managed to say, "if it really took you only one and a half hour, then you are a genius. The man who sold us the card told us the average time was around three hours."

Ron looked at his friends and shook his head.

"Did you spend more time with Fred and George than I thought you did?" Then he started laughing as well.

"We should leave now, otherwise we'll be late for Herbology."

"Sure Hermione. Just let me get my stuff from upstairs."

The rest of the week passed without anything unusual happening until Friday morning. The Gryffindors were having Defence Against the Dark Arts and Harry, Ron and Hermione were late.

They arrived just in time for their lesson and sat down at their usual places in front of the teacher's desk. Since Professor Lupin had returned, Defence Against the Dark Arts had become even more interesting than in their third year. So far they had covered several magical creatures that could really harm human beings and Harry, Ron and Hermione had wondered more than once how Lupin and Hagrid managed to get hold of them. Sometimes they had even been allowed to enter certain parts of the Forbidden Forest, always in small groups together with Professor Lupin, Hagrid and Fang.

This morning however, Lupin didn't carry any cage or basket and also didn't ask them to leave the classroom and go down to Hagrid's hut.

"Good Morning, please take your seats. I've had a conversation with Professor Dumbledore. I'm sure that by now all of you know what has happened to Mr. Weasley in the Great Hall last Saturday at lunch. I know that such news spread around school faster than any fire could ever do.

Now, Professor Dumbledore and I agreed that we should take certain alternations in the Ministry's schedule for fifth years. It is more likely that you will be confronted with a curse then with vampire-bats. It might also be a better choice to remain inside the castle for the winter and return to the magical creatures in early spring.

I have been informed that you covered the three Unforgivable Curses last year. As you know that there are no ways to block Avada Kedavra and the Cruciatus Curse and have all experienced what it takes to fight the Imperious Curse, there is nothing more I can add.

But, there still is a large number of dark curses you could be confronted with and for the rest of the term I will try to give you a little insight into them. You will learn how to block some of the curses or how to dodge them, but also how to recognize which curse has been used on somebody and how to perform the counter curses.

I have to inform you that everyone who dares to use one of the curses I show you will be expelled. I, and only I, will perform the curses to show you their consequences and most of them are illegal. I cannot put those curses onto you for some of them can do a great damage, so we will use spiders."

Ron immediately pushed his chair back from Lupin's desk as far as possible. Ron detested Spiders.

Lupin opened a cupboard on the wall behind his desk and pulled out a large glass jar in which maybe ten spiders crawled around.

Hermione looked startled. "Professor, you surely don't want to put dark curses onto those poor spiders."

Lupin smiled.

"Miss Granger, I can assure you that none of the spells will do any harm to them." Hermione didn't look convinced.

"Now, today we will cover the Calideius Curse. Does anybody know what this charm does?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione raised their hands, Ron again was looking as if he was ready to kill Malfoy for having put that curse on him and escape nearly unpunished.

"Anybody except Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter or Mr. Weasley? Mr. Thomas maybe?"

Dean looked up. "The Calideius Curse…I think the one on whom it is used falls asleep."

Lupin nodded. "That's the general idea, but does anybody knows it more precisely? Yes, Miss Brown?"

"I think it's more like a magical coma which doesn't end if the counter curse is not performed in time."

"Very good Miss Brown. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, how much time you have to perform the counter curse varies from person to person. But so far, nobody is known who has woken up after the curse was on him for more than an hour. Even half an hour is already a dangerous time. The younger or smaller the person is, the faster the counter curse has to be performed. In Mr. Weasley's case, the counter curse was performed in under five minutes which means that no lasting harm was done. The longer the person suffers from the curse, the more time it takes to recover. I'll show you."

He opened the glass jar and took two spiders out and placed them on his table. The spiders tried to crawl off the table immediately. Lupin took out a wand and drew a circle around the spiders on the table.

"I've just drawn a line which they cannot cross so that they won't crawl away. Now I will perform the Calideius Curse on both spiders at the same time but take it off again at different times."

He pointed his wand at one of the spiders and muttered "Calidei", then repeated the same with the second spider. Both were thrown back when the curse hit them and then lay motionless on the desk.

"Now I will remove the curse from one spider." He pointed his wand at one of the animals and said "Removare Calidei". The spider slowly started moving its legs and after a couple of moments ran across the table again as if nothing had happened. Lupin waited a little more and then removed the curse from the second spider. For a minute or so, nothing happened. Then the spider slowly moved a leg, then another, but did nothing else.

"As you see, the first spider seems nearly unharmed and it took only moments until it fully recovered. The curse has lasted maybe two or three minutes longer on the second spider, but it will still take some more time for it to recover. As spiders are very small animals, the curse would have been irremovable if had lasted only some minutes longer."

He took the spiders and put them back into the glass. Ron looked at Harry.

"And Malfoy is still allowed to stay here after he did that to me?" Harry shrugged his shoulders. Lupin, who had heard what Ron had just said, stepped towards him.

"Ron, I think Professor Dumbledore always has his reasons for his decisions, even though they might not be obvious for others."

He stepped back towards his desk.

"Now, as you've seen the counter curse is "Removare Calidei". A lot of curses can be taken off if you repeat the incarnation after you've done the Removare Spell. Removare cannot do any harm to the one who has been cursed no matter what with, but you always have to be aware that it doesn't work on some curses. You have to know which these curses are, for it is of no use if you cast Removare and it doesn't work, because you won't necessarily realize that it doesn't work. Mr. Weasley has staid unconscious even after the spell had been taken off him because he had hit his head on the wall. If Removare would not work on the Calideius curse, you would not have realized it in this case."

At that moment, the bell rang.

"Before you leave: Your homework will be to find out how one can recognize that the Calideius Curse was used on a person. Second task is to find out on which curses Removare doesn't work and how you recognize them. There are two books in the Restricted Section of the library which will help you to find out. I will leave a list with your names with Madam Pince, she'll hand out the books to you. See you next lesson."

The class got up and left the room, Ron still shaking his head in disbelief.

"Just imagine Snape had not come into the Great Hall. What if no teacher would have been there in time? Malfoy is totally insane if you ask me!"

"Ron, calm down. It's no use to ask 'What if' questions. Snape has been there and you're all right. But I agree with you, Malfoy is totally out of mind. Now let's hurry, or we'll miss Care of Magical Creatures. And I could not bear missing the mortal peril Hagrid usually puts us in."

They laughed and walked off towards the Entrance Hall.

While the Gryffindor fifth years had been sitting in their Defence against the Dark Arts lesson, a man in a thick travel cloak entered Hogwarts through the front doors. He removed the hood of his cloak and revealed his blond, nearly silver hair. His pointed face looked angry as his cold grey eyes moved around the Entrance Hall.

At that moment Professor McGonagall came down the stairs and wanted to set off for the dungeons, but she saw the man standing at the door and turned towards him.

"Mr. Malfoy. Professor Dumbledore expected you to come here. If you'd please follow me to my office, I'd like to have a word with you about your son."

Lucius Malfoy raised a hand and gestured her to stop talking.

"I've not come here to listen to the complaints of the head of Gryffindor. This issue concerns my son and therefore you don't have anything to do with it. I want to talk to Dumbledore and if you want to be useful, you will guide me to his office."

His grey eyes showed clearly how little he thought of the deputy headmistress.

"Well, this issue has to do a lot with me because one of my students was involved. But I think Professor Dumbledore", she stressed his title to remind Lucius that he was not the one in charge here, "will be very pleased to meet you. Follow me."

She turned around and started climbing the staircase again, walking a little faster than normal and never looking back whether Lucius Malfoy could keep up or not. She had already opened the staircase when he caught up with her. They mounted the staircase and Professor McGonagall knocked at Dumbledore's office and entered, closing the door in Lucius Malfoy's face.

"Ah Minerva. What can I do for you? Any problems?"

"Yes. Lucius Malfoy is waiting outside, and he's behaving as if he owns this place."

Dumbledore smiled amusedly.

"Well, let him in. I've already been expecting him. Thank you Minerva."

McGonagall nodded and opened the door. Lucius Malfoy immediately entered the office and sat down in front of Dumbledore's desk without waiting for an invitation.

McGonagall shook her head and closed the door behind her.

"Well Lucius, with what do I deserve the honour of you visit?"

"Oh, leave that Dumbledore. You know exactly why I'm here, you've send an owl asking me to come here today, remember? By the way, what was your intention, scare the living daylight out of my wife or what? An owl from Hogwarts arriving in the middle of the night, she thought something had happened to our son! Couldn't it have waited until the next day?"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"No, it could not. Something serious has happened because of your son, but unfortunately he refuses to say anything about the incident, so I thought that maybe you could explain some things to me."

"Well, what incident and what do you want me to explain? Couldn't you've just written what this is all about?"
"Again, the answer is no. I wanted to tell you in person because the matter is so grave that I nearly expelled your son. Last Saturday at lunch he cursed a fellow student."

Lucius rolled his eyes.

"That's it? Listen, I don't have time for this rubbish. They're teenagers, of course they try to use curses on each other. That's normal, I'm sure my son is not the only one who does that."

"Yes, but your son is the only one who uses the Calideius curse on his classmates and I'd most eagerly like to know where he has learned it."

Dumbledore stared at Lucius who began to feel uncomfortable in this position. He had always had the impression that the headmaster knew more than he'd ever admit. Of course, Lucius didn't show this.

"So what? I don't know where he learned it. Our library is just huge, maybe he picked up the wrong book and read about it. Or he's learned it here. I really cannot tell where he's got it from."

Dumbledore nodded.

"I thought that would be your answer. I just want to let you know that he will be punished for it. I cannot allow students to use illegal curses on others. I've taken points from his house, he will do detentions until the end of term, and if he puts one more foot out of line, I will forbid him to participate in the Quidditch team. Any serious trouble caused by him and he will be expelled. I will watch your son very closely from now on Lucius, and maybe you should pay more attention to his behaviour as well."

Lucius shook his head in anger.

"You will not tell me how I am to raise my son! You're just an old fool who sees dark conspiracies behind everything because otherwise you would be useless. I don't give a damn about your advice, you don't know anything about my son! I want to talk to Professor Snape immediately!"

"As it is you right for he is the head of your son's house. He will be in the dungeons right now, his lessons have just finished. Unfortunately I cannot guide you there for I have a lot of work to do. But I'm sure you'll find the way on your own. Good Bye Lucius."

Without another word, Lucius Malfoy got up and left the office, slamming the door close behind him.

That old fool was trying to tell him how to raise his son, who did he think he was? He could hardly wait to lay his hands on Draco. If that fool of a son could control himself better, he would not be in the trouble he was now. He had told him uncountable times not to use any of the spells he had taught him. At least he had refused to say anything towards Dumbledore.

Lucius was still fuming as he reached the dungeons. He remembered them quite well from his own time at Hogwarts and quickly found his way to the office of the Potions teacher. He knocked on the door.

"Enter" came Snape's voice from behind and Lucius stormed in his office.

Snape sat behind his desk and had been marking a pile of potions essays that lay in front of him. When he saw Lucius, his expression changed from his normal look of dislike to one of deeply felt disgust.

"Lucius. I guess you are here because your son decided to cause a little fracas last weekend."

"I want to know why you didn't inform me what all this is about. It was quite embarrassing to be informed and questioned by Dumbledore."

Snape raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't inform you, because the headmaster decided that he wanted to do that in person. And I would like to know as well where your son could have learned a spell like that. An illegal spell, Lucius."

"Oh, stop that. It's only a spell, and as I see it, no harm was done. I would have never expected you, especially you, to consider it such a big thing."

Snape slowly shook his head.

"You know that I think very highly of your son. Not because he is your son, but because he is extremely bright and because he has internalized a certain attitude which stands straight in the tradition of Slytherin house. But even though, I cannot just let him use illegal curses on fellow students. If I had not come into the Great Hall shortly afterwards, who knows what would have happened.

You totally underestimate how serious this is. If he had cursed Mr. Weasley with the leg-locker curse, I would not have said anything, but he could have put him into a death-like state with what he's done. Teach your son those spells if you think it's necessary, but if he does something like this again, he will be expelled and I won't do anything to prevent that. I'm sure Dumbledore told you this."

"Wait, wait. He cursed a Weasley? A son of Arthur Weasley, one of the many he has? Nobody would have missed him, there are so many of them, I don't even think Arthur knows how many he has."

"Lucius!" Snape stood up behind his desk. "Whatever you may think of the Weasley family, it doesn't matter here. It's about what your son did, not to whom he did it, don't try to divert from the topic. Now, if you don't have anything to say, leave. I have work to do."

"You know, you have spent too much time with that old fool who runs this school. I just hope you won't regret choosing the wrong allies one day. Where is my son? I need to talk to him."

Snape pulled the Slytherin fifth years schedule out of a drawer of his desk and checked it.

"Your son at the moment attends Care of Magical Creatures. I will guide you to the grounds and then show you a room where you can talk to him if you consider it necessary."

"Yes, I do consider it necessary."

Snape got up. He knew that he could not refuse to let Lucius talk to his son, but he didn't have a very good feeling about it. In the mood Lucius was in right now, he was surely not the one you'd want to be confronted with.

They left Snape's office and went up the stairs towards the door.

As they turned to their left towards Hagrid's hut, they could see that the gamekeeper had lit a fire at the edge of the Forbidden Forest and was about to show them how to prepare food for the four fire eagles that were sitting on the fence of Hagrid's garden. Snape realized relieved that Hagrid had bound them to the fence for they could attack very viciously.

Lucius stayed behind as they had come into earshot, Snape went on towards the classes. Most of the pupils were watching how Hagrid threw the meat pieces into the fire and heated them before he fed them to the fire eagles. Draco Malfoy had his back turned towards the castle and therefore didn't see them coming.

"Hagrid, I'm sorry that I interrupt your lesson, but I have to take Mr. Malfoy with me."

Hagrid nodded. "If ye must Professor."

"Yes Hagrid. Mr. Malfoy, would you please follow me?"

"Where do we go?"

"Your father is here and wants to have a word with you."

Draco spun around and looked at his father. Though he stood maybe two hundred meters away, it was clearly visible that he was very angry. Draco swallowed hard and followed Snape.

"Where will you bring us?"

"I'll leave you in an empty classroom."

Draco nodded, straightened his back and walked on.

"Father." He nodded at Lucius as they reached him.

"Draco." That was all that was spoken until Snape had guided them into the Transfiguration classroom which would be empty until late afternoon.

As soon as Lucius had seen Snape closing the door and supposed that he was out of earshot, he locked the door with a spell and slapped his son's face so hard that Draco fell over the table at his side. Lucius pulled him onto his feet again, slapped his face once more and then hit Draco's solar plexus with his fist.

Draco fell onto the floor and groaned in pain. He could taste blood.

"Father…"

"Stop talking!" He kicked Draco in the side. "You've caused enough trouble! What did I tell you? Answer! What. Did. I. Tell. You?" He stressed every word by kicking his son's side and stomach again and again.

"You told me…not to use anything…you taught me…not here…" Draco could hardly breathe anymore.

"And why don't you follow my instructions? Curse a Weasley in front of other students, you should have known that would bring you into trouble! You're lucky that the old fool didn't throw you out! Why did you curse that idiot?"

"He…provoked…me…"

"Provoked you??? That's all???" Another kick threw Draco, who had just gotten up onto his knees, back onto the floor. Draco felt a crack in his chest telling him that once again his father had broken one of his ribs.

"Sometimes I ask myself what I have done to be cursed with an idiot like you! You're not worth all this trouble! You're not worth the education you received! And now all the teachers in this bloody castle are watching every single step you make! Don't you ever think? You could ruin every plan I've made! Wait until you get home for Christmas, then we'll continue this conversation!" Once more, he kicked Draco in the stomach.

He looked at his son, who had curled up on the floor and held his aching stomach. His nose was bleeding and his left eye already started to swell and turn blue. Tears ran down his face.

"Stop crying like a baby! Malfoys don't cry!"

Lucius waved his wand over his son and the bruises and the blood disappeared. The pain nevertheless remained the same.

Lucius left the room without another word and stormed out of the castle to disapparate as soon as he left the grounds.

It took Draco a long time before he was able to get up. Every single part of his body seemed to be hurting and all he wanted was to get into his dormitory to lie down before the afternoon lessons. He would skip lunch, and then it would only be a single Potions lesson before the weekend would start.

Draco lifted himself up, leaned on a table for a moment and then slowly limped out of the classroom and towards the dungeons. He was more than thankful that he didn't meet anybody on his way and therefore didn't have to try and walk normal. When he arrived in his dormitory, he carefully lay down on his bed and did something he had not done for a long time – he started crying into his pillow.

"I wonder what Malfoy's father wants here?"

"Oh, I guess he'll congratulate his son for the practical use of the Dark Arts on me!"

Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking back to the castle after their Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Harry looked at Ron.

"Oh come on! Mr. Malfoy didn't look too pleased as he stood there. I don't think Malfoy enjoyed their conversation."

"Yeah, maybe Mr. Malfoy has turned him into a ferret once more as a punishment for making his Dark Art training public…"

Hermione interrupted them as they began to invent the nastiest punishments Mr. Malfoy could have used on his son.

"Stop that, that's childish. We'll see Malfoy at lunch, and I'm sure that he'll look just the same as he looked when he left. Ears the same size as ever." She looked at Ron whose latest suggestion had been that Lucius Malfoy would turn his son into a rabbit.

But Malfoy didn't show up for lunch. His place at the Slytherin table between Crabbe and Goyle remained empty.

"See Ron, I was right. He has turned him into something small. Look, do you see the fly that's buzzing around Goyle's head? The Fly Formerly Known As Draco Malfoy!"

They burst into laughter, but Hermione didn't seem to enjoy their jokes at all.

"None of you would have wanted to be in Malfoy's situation today, I'm sure about that. Stop making fun about it, I don't envy Malfoy for his father."

"Hermione! You won't start pitying that moron! He's insulted you so often, he's never shown any sign of being human, it's his fault that he's in this trouble now. He has cursed me, did you forget about that?"

"Yeah, and you provoked him!"

"But he could have reacted differently! There was no need to get me nearly killed!"

"Ron, Hermione stop that. I won't watch you two start fighting because of Malfoy. If his father punished him, then he has deserved it. We'll see him later on in Potions, then Hermione can make sure that he's still alive."

Harry rose and left the Great Hall. He would never admit it, but he somehow was worried about Malfoy as well. No, that was not the right expression, but he didn't like the idea that Snape had left Malfoy alone with his father. Lucius Malfoy surely never looked happy, but as he had been standing there on the grounds he had seemed close to exploding.

'What do I start worrying about their family problems, Malfoy is a slimy idiot as well as his father. He surely has told him off for causing trouble and only wanted to have a big appearance to show off in front of us.'

He told the Fat Lady the password ('Flobberworm') and entered the common room. He still had an nearly an hour left before the potion lesson and wanted to use this time to revise what they had been supposed to learn. He knew that he would be the first one to be asked about it by Snape.

Ron and Hermione came into the common room ten minutes later. They obviously had continued fighting after Harry had left for they were not talking to each other.

Harry shook his head and focused on his book again. Hermione sat down beside Harry while Ron left for the dormitory.

"Hermione, is it really necessary that you two fight because of Malfoy?"

"It's not because of Malfoy. It's because Ron is a stubborn idiot. And he behaves as if Malfoy was You-Know-Who and had just tried to kill him." She looked at Harry and saw his expression change as he was reminded of Voldemort and how he had killed Cedric once more. "Oh Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"Hermione, it's okay. I know that you didn't mean to hurt me. Calm down again, I'm not angry, I just don't like being reminded of it all."

Hermione nodded. "Do you need help with your Potion notes?"

"Yeah, the one we did last Monday remains a mystery to me. Can you explain it to me?"

"Sure." Hermione smiled. She liked explaining things and was rather good at it as well.

For the next thirty minutes they sat by the fire, their heads stuck together over the Potions book and Hermione explained last weeks potion to Harry. Then Ron came down from the dormitory and the three set off towards the dungeons.

As usual, they took seats at the back of the room and started to talk to Dean and Seamus about the upcoming Quidditch match Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. They looked up as Malfoy entered the room, closely followed by Crabbe and Goyle but could not make out any difference on him. His face didn't show what was going on inside of him, but that was rather usual. He sat down at his desk and slowly started unpacking his bag.

Snape entered the room and Harry forced himself to focus on what Hermione hat explained him only minutes ago. Snape appeared to be in an unusually bad mood and immediately started to ask Harry and Neville questions about the sleeping potions they had covered so far.

Harry did rather well, but Neville was a complete mess and cost Gryffindor twenty points in only ten minutes.

Snape shook his head and turned towards the Slytherins to continue the revision.

"Miss Lewis, what is the use of the concentrated toad skin secretion in the Dreamless Sleep Potion?"

Samantha lazily raised her head.

"It reacts with the active substances in the pine needles that were added before. The resulting concentrate blocks off the sub conscience of the person who drinks the potion and therefore enables a dreamless sleep."

As usual, her voice sounded as if she was bored above all else. Snape nodded.

"And what would happen if no pine needles were added?" Nearly every arm rose into the air, even Neville's, for this was a simple question. The warning that if the needles were forgotten the potion would rather produce nightmares than dreamless sleep was printed with large and fat letters in their books. Snape looked around the room.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

Malfoy didn't react.

"Mr. Malfoy, what would happen if no pine needles were added into the potion?" Draco still didn't react but stared unfocussed onto a point somewhere at the wall behind Snape. Drops of sweat had appeared on his forehead and he breathed heavily.

"Mr. Malfoy?" Snape had stepped in front of Malfoy and started waving his hand in front of his eyes. This brought Draco back into reality, he blinked and shortly shook his head.

"Sorry Professor, I'm not feeling very well. May I leave? I'd like to lie down a little."

Snape watched his student with what could nearly be interpreted as concern.

"Then go into the hospital wing and tell Madam Pomfrey about it. You may leave. Class, I will now show you some ingredients and you will tell me what they are and what their use is in a Sleeping Potion."

Snape turned around towards one of the storage cupboards.

Malfoy raised, stood still for a moment as if he was feeling dizzy, then set off for the door. He managed to make a few steps before he uttered a groan as if he was in pain, staggered and fell unconsciously on the floor.

"Draco!" Pansy started screaming, Snape spun around and ran over to Malfoy. He bent down next to him, then looked up at his students.

"Class dismissed. We'll finish this next week." Having said so, he lifted Malfoy up and left the room, obviously heading for the hospital wing.

Pansy had started crying and was being comforted by Millicent Bulstrode.

Harry looked startled to Ron and Hermione. "What was that?"

Ron just shook his head. "Maybe he thinks that if people pity him, they'll forget what he's done to me." He packed his bag and left the room.

"Hermione, this is strange. He didn't look ill when he left Hagrid's class this morning. I've never heard that someone could become sick that fast."

Hermione just shrugged her shoulders. "I can't explain either. But I'm sure it has something to do with his father. We'll see. Let's go after Ron before he thinks we establish a Draco Malfoy Fan Club here. He's quite sensitive concerning this topic."

Harry nodded and they too left the dungeon.

A short while later Snape waited in the Hospital Wing for Madam Pomfrey to tell him about the reasons for Malfoy's unconsciousness. After some minutes, Dumbledore joined him.

"Severus, you sent Nearly Headless Nick for me, what's happened? An accident in Potions?"

Snape shook his head.

"Not an accident, at least none that had anything to do with the lesson. Draco Malfoy has been absent minded and told me he was feeling ill, so I sent him up here to see Madam Pomfrey. He really didn't look too well. But as he tried to leave the dungeons, he fainted and fell on the floor.

His state strikes me because when I fetched him from the grounds to meet his father this morning, he seemed to be of good health. I wonder whether Lucius has taken his own means to punish him for cursing Mr. Weasley."

"Did you see anything unusual on him?"

"No. He looked normal, maybe he was paler than usual but that's always difficult to judge in his case. But when I addressed him during the lesson, he seemed to be somewhere totally different, as if he was concentrating very much. He somewhat…seemed to be in pain, I cannot describe it better I'm afraid."
Dumbledore nodded. "Let's see what Poppy has to say."

They waited for another ten minutes until Madam Pomfrey came walking towards them. Both got up.

"Poppy, why has Mr. Malfoy fainted?"

Madam Pomfrey shrugged her shoulders.

"I really don't know. After the Professor brought him up here, I examined him carefully but could find nothing. It seemed to hurt him when I touched his face, and when I examined his belly he vomited, but I could not find any reason for it. I've given him something against the pain he's in and we'll see how he's doing tomorrow. He's sleeping now."

Snape's forehead frowned. "But there has to be a reason. Nobody faints without a reason. And if he's in pain that has to have a reason."

"That's exactly what I think. But we won't find out until tomorrow, maybe he can tell us what is wrong with him when he wakes up. Right now he needs some sleep."

Dumbledore nodded. "If you find out anything, tell me. I'll be in my office."

He turned around and wanted to leave the room, but before he reached the door, it was pulled open and Pansy Parkinson stood in the doorframe, her face covered in tears.

"Where's Draco? What's wrong with him? I want to see him, he needs me now!"

Snape walked forward and addressed her very taciturn and harsh. "What Mr. Malfoy needs right now is rest and calm. Leave him alone Ms. Parkinson. He really doesn't need your hysteria now."

Pansy wanted to repeat something, but when she saw the look in Snape's eyes, she started crying again, turned around and ran back towards the dungeons. Dumbledore looked after her in disbelief.

"Is this Mr. Malfoy's girlfriend?"

Snape laughed.

"As far as I know, that's what she wants, but Mr. Malfoy rather considers her to be a pain in the neck."

"I understand."

Dumbledore nodded at Snape and Madam Pomfrey and then left the Hospital Wing.

"Madam Pomfrey, please inform me as well if Mr. Malfoy's state changes. I'll be in the dungeons."

"Sure Professor."

And Snape left. He slowly descended towards the dungeons, lost in thought about the cause of Malfoy's sudden sickness. He was so sure that this had something to do with Lucius' visit, but what? He would not have dared to curse Draco at Hogwarts, the risk of being discovered would have been too high. And if he had beaten him up, there would have been bruises or marks, maybe even broken bones. But he had neither seen such signs nor had Madam Pomfrey mentioned to have found any.

But Draco obviously had already been in pain when he had come into the dungeon, and his unfocussed behaviour could only too well be explained with the amount of concentration it needed not to show any of it.

If only that boy would finally start behaving human! It would make things a lot easier if there was anybody at Hogwarts who knew what was going on inside of Draco Malfoy, but he would never let anybody get that close.

Snape shook his head. Getting lost in those thoughts was of no use, it would not lead him to a conclusion. He would have to wait until tomorrow, then he would ask Draco a couple of questions.

He opened the door to his office and tried to prepare for the last lesson of the week, his Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw sixth years.

The Gryffindor Common Room at that time already was a pool of speculations and rumours Rita Skeeter would have been proud of. It seemed that the whole house was assembled there and speculated about the possible causes of Malfoy's sickness. Nobody seemed to be very sorry for him, and why should the be? Malfoy had never treated any Gryffindor nicely.

Only Harry, Ron and Hermione were not participating. They sat in Harry's and Ron's dormitory and talked about the upcoming holidays. Ron was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, and so were Ron's brothers Fred and George and his sister Ginny.

"Mom and Dad will go on a holiday over Christmas, the first holiday on their own since Bill was born. She owled Fred and George yesterday. Bill is having work to do in Egypt, they have discovered a tomb they've been searching for a long time and it's protected by some particularly vicious spells. And Charlie has been invited by his girlfriend's parents." He grinned. "They met at work. Maybe being in mortal danger the entire day puts emotions free. And Percy says he has so much work to do, he cannot afford having holidays, not even for Christmas."

Ron's eldest brother Bill was working as a curse breaker for Gringott's, Charlie trained dragons in Rumania and Percy worked for the Ministry of Magic.

"Mom and Dad decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to go on a holiday. They'll spent the time in Ireland and visit some old friends from school."

Harry grinned. "Great. Then I won't be left alone here. Though Sirius is here too, of course. It will be the first Christmas we'll spend together. How about you Hermione?"

"Well, my parents wanted me to come home, but I told them that I could not leave school for nearly two weeks now. Not with the O.W.L.s coming up. At home I cannot learn properly, I don't have any possibility to check on things in a wizard library."

Both Ron and Harry grinned. The O.W.L.s were still months away and it was so typical Hermione to be worrying about them already.

"Okay Hermione, off you go now. Ron and I have some Christmas presents to talk about."

Hermione smiled and left the dormitory.

The next day after breakfast, Dumbledore and Snape entered the hospital wing where Draco Malfoy was still lying in bed. Firstly, they went into Madam Pomfrey's office to ask about hit state.

"Poppy, good morning. How is your patient doing?"

"As if he would tell me. Since he's woken up this morning, he's been claiming that he's doing fine and that he wants to go to his dormitory. He refused any further examination. But as I could not find anything yesterday, I don't think that I would be knowing more even if I had once more examined him. I think he is still having pain but not as bad as yesterday. That's all I can say. I would like to keep him here for another day but he refuses that as well. I told him that after you talked to him, he could leave."

Dumbledore nodded but frowned his head. Snape didn't move.

"Well, then I think I better go and have a talk with him. Though I doubt that he would confide me with what has happened to him."

Both teachers turned around and approached Malfoy's bed. The Slytherin sat upright on it, the plate with his untouched breakfast stood on the bedside table. He appeared to be impatient.

"Good morning Mr. Malfoy. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm fine. I want to leave now, but the nurse would not let me."

"Really fine? Yesterday you seemed to be suffering from bad pain. Where did that come from?"

Malfoy shook his head.

"I did not suffer from any pain. I…I had hardly eaten anything yesterday, and then I spent time out in the cold, returned into the warmth, then again into the cold dungeons…that made me feel ill and I collapsed. Quite humiliating, I have to admit. But I'm doing fine and want to leave now if that's possible."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Sure, Madam Pomfrey says you can leave. Just one more question. Your father talked to you yesterday, what did he say? He seemed to be quite upset when he came into my office."

"What my father told me really is none of you business Professor."

Dumbledore nodded again.

"Fine. I'm glad to see that you're doing better. Enjoy your weekend."

With this, he turned around and left the hospital wing. Snape remained at Draco's bed and looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

"I'd advice you to change your manner of addressing your headmaster, Mr. Malfoy."

Malfoy looked at him.

"I wondered whether there really is nothing you want to tell me about your father's visit yesterday."

Malfoy shook his head.

"No, there is nothing."

"Fine. Still, if something comes to your mind you might consider worth mentioning, you know where you can find me."

Snape nodded at his student and turned around towards the door.